All about improving the customer experience for older consumers

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Young people are poor and it’s getting worse

Marketers have an aversion to studying and acting upon demographics and economics data.

The enormity of the shift in employment patterns (more accurately unemployment patterns) seems to escape the marketing world.

Look at these numbers from the US. Nearly 40% of 18-19 year olds are unemployed or not seeking work. If you can bear to look, see what is happening in Spain – youth unemployment is well over 40%. Just take a couple of minutes and read this front page article from the New York Times. Then ask yourself the question: “If this is true (which it is) why are we focusing so much of our marketing budget on this poor hapless group of consumers.”

Of course, things are not going too well for their parents or grandparents, but in the main they do have some financial fat that can maintain their spending. The young are unlikely to have any accumulated wealth that you can translate into income.

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Dick Stroud

Dick Stroud

Founder of 20plus30, a consultancy specialising in marketing to older consumers. He is the UK’s leading expert in understanding the implications of physical ageing on the way older people behave and the products they buy.